Links to the Present: Kyrie USA Edition

Cleveland is officially on the international radar. Kyrie Irving has competed for and has earned a spot on Team USA. He has exceeded expectations while earning that spot, and he will be starting tonight against Slovenia. He might even take turns alternating at the starting spot with Derrick Rose once the actual FIBA tournament starts according to Mike Krzyzewski.

“We’ll see as thing goes on. We might alternate ’em. Both of them are going to play significant minutes.”

After being scared to death of signing Kyrie Irving to a max contract this summer, I am starting to become comfortable with his ability to play up to a max contract level. He keeps showing that he can play with top caliber players and succeed. Fortunately, the Cavs roster is full of stars. Kyrie is also showing a lot of focus during this crazy Cavs offseason. He isn’t worrying about adjusting to playing with Kevin Love and LeBron James. He’s all about Team USA right now.

While Kyrie is winning for Cleveland internationally, the Cavs as a whole are winning for Cleveland nationally. Stars are flocking to the city. Gregg Popovich was hanging out on the streets downtown. Brendan Bowers (See below) has the proof and, despite being nervous and afraid of a Pop interview shutdown, he managed to get a quick quasi-interview done.

Me: Enjoying your time Cleveland?Gregg Popovich: Yeah it’s been great, lot of excitement around here.Me: I can only imagine what it will be like when you guys come back for the NBA Championship.Gregg Popovich: That’d be something [kinda smiles]. I’ll tell you this much, though, the Cavs are going to be really, really good this year. They have a really good team.

I have been waiting almost my entire “post-decision” life to receive that type of clear cut statement about my team from Popovich. Now, I hope the Cavs can live up to it and not get bounced in four if they face the Spurs in the Finals.

Kevin Pelton is at it again with his crazy numbers. The SCHOENE’s projection has Cleveland being a defensive juggernaut. That’s not a typo. Using that system, Cleveland is projected to allow the fourth fewest points per possession. The system lies though.

SCHOENE doesn’t take into account measures of individual defense, so Love’s poor rim protection isn’t considered. At the same time, Love’s stout defensive rebounding and his penchant for avoiding fouls are part of the SCHOENE projection, so Cleveland is getting all of Love’s strengths and none of his weaknesses.

Using ESPN’s real plus-minus rating paints a more average picture.

Weighted for playing time, real plus-minus estimates Cleveland will allow 1.0 points per 100 possessions more than league average — about the same as last year’s Brooklyn Nets, who ranked 19th in the NBA in defensive rating.

There’s no reason to fear an average defense is going to sink the Cavs.

Let’s revisit those real plus-minus projections. Weighting offense in the same manner gives Cleveland an offensive rating 10.0 points per 100 possessions better than league average. Since the NBA began tracking team turnovers in 1973-74, no team has managed even 10 points per 100 possessions better than league average, with the 2003-04 Dallas Mavericks (plus-9.9) getting closest.

This Cavs team is going to be utilizing a well known fact to anyone that has played pick-up basketball: shooting and playing offense is way more fun than playing defense. Pelton does acknowledge that David Blatt might be able to help boost the Cavs defense, since coaches typically have more control over that than a team’s overall offensive ability.

Cavs: The Blog writer Robert Attenweiler has a piece up for Triangle Offenseabout the Andrew Wiggins era in Cleveland. It was a brief and awkward one. Robert ends his piece with a firm take:

What started as one of the most buzz-worthy off-seasons in NBA history ended, unfortunately, in this awkward near-hazing of Wiggins and the league needs to figure out how to keep that from happening again. One solution would be for the NBA to waive the waiting period for a newly signed player to be traded if the league determines that the trade isn’t being used to circumvent the salary cap (the reason any of these waiting periods exist). A more intriguing option, though, could be to prevent teams from trading newly signed rookies for one year from the date they sign.

The league can use this as an example of the way in which their own rules contributed to souring of an otherwise great story. And, as for Wiggins, this summer’s been rough, sure, but the real challenge begins now.

I really wanted to keep Wiggins, so I can appreciate a no trade rule for signed rookies. Although, the Cavs might have just traded him anyways and then had to have gotten rid of Dion Waiter’s salary too to get Kevin Love.

14 Responses to “Links to the Present: Kyrie USA Edition”

It’s obvious to everyone except a few holdouts that this Cavs team is going to be great. The defense was OK last year and have added LeBron, a better coach (it couldn’t be worse than Mike Brown), Kevin Love, and some veterans who actually know how to play basketball. The offense is going to be historically great and the defense is going to be much better than anyone thinks. Easily top half, most likely top 10 or top 5.

They are going to get all the rebounds. Really, only OKC can beat us and I don’t think even they will unless Westbrook and Durant do insane things.

Who are these hold outs. Some recognize this team isn’t quite ready to win 73 games yet and therefore want to keep improving it. But I am predicting 64 wins as of right now. I still think that adding Koufas or Mosgov or Sanders, or someone who could block shots would help a lot if when we play OKC or Detroit.

Nah. We don’t need those guys. We could use a 10 minute backup guy. Or no one. We don’t have to worry at all about Detroit. OKC is a worry because Durant and Westbrook are awesome. I don’t think anyone else is even close.

Cols I agree. We are the favorite. We don’t “need” them. But are you telling me this is the best team possible. Will this team go undefeated through the playoffs? Of course not. We can still get better. And most of us think a big helps more than Ray Allen

I’m saying all we need is a backup big guy. No, we won’t go undefeated in the playoffs, but there’s no team in the East that would challenge us. The Bulls best player, Derrick Rose, can’t even start over Kyrie on Team USA right now. So our top 3 guys are better than their best. It won’t be difficult to defeat them.

Its not really an “arrest” thing. Its a beating up a woman thing because you were high on something thing.
Dont need someone like that just because you think he can help your favorite sports team. no thanks.

The defense was “OK”, which I’m not even sure I agree with considering it was below average, because Varejao played 1800 minutes. When he played less than 1000 minutes in the previous three years, the Cavs had a bottom five defense. I’m not ready to count on Varejao being a 65 games a year guy just yet.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

Follow Me On Twitter

General NBA

Other Places To Find My Work

The Comment Monster

A monster lives in the comments section of Cavs: The Blog, and he likes to feed on comments. We have very little idea about when he will strike. What we do know is that comments with 2 or more links will get filed into the spam folder, as will comments with foul or discriminatory language. The comment monster also seems to enjoy extra-long comments, so if you have a long comment, you may want to press copy before submitting a long comment and break it into multiple pieces if the monster eats it. If you are having particular trouble with the monster, email one of us and we will talk to him for you.